Women Champions Can Make A Change – Eunice Adofo Boanya

Mrs. Eunice Adofo Boanya, a Communication Specialist with Africa Lead has noted strongly that women are champions of change, stressing that women can contribute and cause a massive change in all sectors including the agric sector.

Mrs. Boanya who was speaking to Rite news at Africa Lead’s Super Champions for Change Women’s Conference, a USAID programme in Sub Saharan Africa held at the Ampomaah Tourist hotel in Accra noted that since 2010, Africa Lead has delivered training to about 214 women who are actively involved in agriculture production in diverse ways.

Africa Lead is a Feed the Future and USAID funded project – a US government global hunger and food security initiative, was geared towards building the capacity for African agriculture transformation.

Explaining the idea behind the project, Madam Boanya said that the project was to contribute to reducing hunger by building the capacity of women, men and the youth in agriculture. This, according to her was to pave the way for them to lead the change in Africa’s agriculture for the supposed transformation process.

‘Today is a day for all these women to come together and celebrate as champions. The program was aimed at training women who can go out and become champions because we know women can do things and do them better.’ Mrs. Adofo noted.

Touching on the motivation behind the conference, the Communications Specialist noted that an earlier women’s conference in 2014 held in Akosombo gave birth to the ‘Women In Agric Business Network Ghana.’

‘This is why we must celebrate women in agric to get more of our women champions into this network because we believe these women are going to lead and spearhead a great change and do it well,’ madam Boanya stressed.

Madame Hajara Ibrahim Taimako, a farmer and processor and a proud ‘Champion for Change’ at the ‘Super Champions For Change Women’s Conference’ project also explained that she has been able to train 53 women groups in the northern region who have also won about 5,000 women in membership for the groups.

The women, Madam Hajara explained, were being trained to win back their daughters who have been subjected to the ‘kayayee’ business in Accra, Kumasi and other major cities in the country. ‘We are training these women so that they will call back their daughters who have traveled far to involve themselves as ‘Kayayee’ to come back home (the northern region) and engage themselves in vibrant agriculture works.’

She was hopeful that if this was done, the objective of Africa Lead to champion change in the agriculture sector through women would be met.

The two day conference saw more than a hundred women across the country taking part which provided them with the opportunity to engage in networking, learning and information sharing sessions on opportunities and new technologies in agribusiness.